Punisher Frigate

Punisher-class Strike Frigates were first constructed ten years after the formation of the Empire. The design ideals of the vessel were fairly radical at the time. Instead of pursuing the concept of a ship designed to sit and take punishment while dealing it, or to strafe the enemy and pelt it with rapid shots to slowly tear it apart, the Punisher-class was designed for a single quick strike to completely cripple an opposing ship.

The Punisher is lightly-defended and extremely fast, even quicker than the feared Harbinger Frigate. It lacks traditional armor and relies completely upon meson shield arrays to defend itself, a new concept for Imperial Forgeworks. The idea is not just to avoid being hit, but to avoid even being targeted to begin with.

Service & Requisition
When combating raiding parties in the border regions of Imperial Space after a decade of consolidation efforts, the Imperial Navy began to notice a trend among the outlaws and bandits. Their vessels were designed to be heavily armored and shielded in the front, and they would place heavy defense ships along their perimeter to "slap away" strike craft and quick-assault vessels. The result was that Imperial forces were often forced to engage head-on in protracted engagements. While this often still resulted in victory, the losses were much more significant than they would be if the Imperials could effectively flank the enemy from the side or rear.

The development of the Punisher was begun in haste. The idea of mounting a composite beam laser on anything smaller than a Cruiser had never been attempted, as the sheer size of one would require it to be spinally-mounted, requiring the entire vessel to point itself directly at a target. Most ships could not angle themselves quickly enough to even think of this method as being possible. The mission was to design a small ship that was fast and agile enough to swoop in and "slice" the enemy with a spinally-mounted composite beam.

After several failed attempts, such as the decommissioned Bayonet and Lithe-class Frigates, the Punisher was completed. Moving at an astounding 0.32 Warp, a third the speed of light, the Punisher zeros-in on a target and fires the Sickle composite beam laser, which punches through shields, armor, and hull alike. If aimed properly, a single one-second blast of the beam will punch all the way out of a ship to exit the hull. Generally what escapes beyond is relatively scattered and will not continue to penetrate further ships, scattering away on meson shields. A puncture wound from a Punisher will rarely completely destroy a vessel, but the idea is simply to render them harmless or crippled, to be swept away at leisure by other craft later.

A common shock tactic of the Empire as of late is to send one or two Punisher craft to an unruly system, to puncture the craft of pirates or rebellious elements, and leave them to slowly bleed off air into the vacuum of space until ultimately being suffocated. This terrifying method of putting-down insurrections has many Imperial Analysts concluding that the Punisher may be more effective at suppressing rebellion than any other ship in the Navy, simply due to fear factor.

Access to the Harbinger Frigate outside of the Imperial Navy is obviously impossible, but it can be commissioned by members of the Nobility at a cost of Φ59,440,000. A minimum rank of Baron is required to request the vessel from Imperial High Command.

Statistics
Cost: Φ59,440,000

Length: 180 meters

Detailed Crew: 10 Bridge Officers, 20 Staff Officers, 60 Enlisted, ~30 Technicians (total 120 appx.)

Weaponry: One Sickle-class 40MW composite beam laser (forward aiming), two Auror-class 15MW tachyon cannons (dorsal, 360)

Top Impulse Speed: 0.32 Warp / 213,760,000 mph